Damnation of the Present
by WyldCard4
Summary: Clarke Griffin wakes up in the drop ship, 99 children screaming all around her. Last night she was Wanheda, running for her life. Something has given her another chance to save her people. Clarke is going to take it.
1. Chapter 1

Clarke Griffin was used to nightmares. It had been a while since she was on the drop ship, falling to Earth. That had almost been a good day. She breathed in the humid, sweaty air of the juvenile delinquents. Clarke barely missed the Ark, but it was still almost nostalgic.

Clarke hissed as she opened her eyes, feeling the pain on her wrist. The bracelet? She'd torn that off so long ago.

"Welcome back." There was Wells. This was definitely another nightmare. What did her subconscious want to hurt her for this time?

"I didn't even kill that one," Clarke said to herself.

"Look..." Wells said and his voice trailed off. "What?"

"Of all the people I have killed, you'd think I'd be seeing one of them, right? Finn, or maybe Atom. First come first serve, right?" Clarke snorted. "Or maybe someone who _wasn't_ a mercy kill."

"Clarke..." Wells stammered. "What happened to you? I know you were in solitary for over a year. They're sending the prisoners to the Ground. I..."

"I've been through this already. Got yourself arrested, came for me, and got stabbed in the neck by a little girl I couldn't save." Clarke heard the drop ship shake. The atmosphere being disconnected so the Ark could live for a few more weeks.

"Prisoners of the Ark, hear me now. You've been given a second chance." Clarke looked up to see Jaha's face and spat at it. "And as your chancellor, it is my hope that you see this as not just a chance for you but a chance for all of us."

"Clarke, this is real!" Wells whispered urgently. "Snap out of it! You're out of your cell. We're going to the _Ground_." _To be slaughtered like animals by the Grounders and eaten alive by Mount Weather_ , Clarke thought, and she laughed hoarsely.

"...no idea what is waiting for you down there." Jaha's voice continued. Clarke looked around her. Jasper and Monty sitting together on one wall.

"This isn't real Wells. I saw you _die_. I saw Finn and Dad and half of those they sent down slaughtered piece by piece. You _can't_ be alive." Clarke stared at the face of her dead best friend. Quiet wheels were turning in his head.

"Okay, so let's say I died. I'm here now, so why not _change it_? Do what you can to help?" Wells asked.

"Your dad's a dick, Wells!" Someone shouted. Clarke sat there confused for a minute. This wasn't an ordinary nightmare.

"...those crimes will be forgiven. Your records wiped clean," Jaha continued. "The drop site has been chosen carefully. Before the Last War, Mount Weather was a military base built within a mountain." Clarke did not do another crazy laugh, only a snort. Sent to Mount Weather to be _safe_. Stocked with food and non-perishables before the war, filled with missiles and acid fog by the time the Ark sent children down. Finn was _already_ floating around out of his chair...

 _Finn_. If Wells was right, if there was _any_ chance of saving him, of saving anyone...

"Get back!" Clarke shouted. "Get back! Anyone out of your seat is going to die! I saw it!" Finn just stared at her. "If you're not going to strap back in, go get the other two to safety! Finn, I can count on you. Go!"

"Crazy princess a friend of yours?" Finn asked Wells. Then he looked at her. "Oh, you're the traitor who's been in solitary for a year."

"I'm the traitor who is saving your ass. Go!" Clarke shouted. Finn wasn't moving. "Raven!" Clarke reached, trying to think fast. If this wasn't Finn her friend, he was Raven's boyfriend. Finn frowned. "She'd want you to help them! Try to keep them alive!"

"When did you meet Raven?" Finn asked. "Did she talk about me?"

"Help me keep them alive and I'll tell you everything. Otherwise two people are going to die." Clarke said seriously.

"...your one responsibility is to stay alive," Jaha's voice continued softly on the screen. Finn turned around, using Clarke's arm as support. "Someone grab them!" Clarke shouted, pointing at one of the delinquents who had left his chair, and she saw Murphy of all people grabbing his arm. A moment later the ship screamed and shuddered. Clarke felt Finn falling and reached out with her other arm.

"Wells! Help!" She screamed and his arms went flying, grabbing Finn around the torso. Clarke kept a hold of Finn's head while she looked around desperately. The ship was rocking, blasts of cloudy steam burst out from the sides.

"Clarke," Wells started. "You need to know..."

"You didn't get my father arrested," Clarke spat out. "My mom did that. I already know." _Okay, if we can keep Finn locked here, and Murphy is holding that guy does anyone die in the landing? We lost two before. Did he not get up, or is he on another part of the ship_? Shouting, screaming, then the crash. They'd landed on Earth.

 _Now I wake up. They can't hurt me anymore. We're on the Ground. Everyone's alive. Now we'll cut to something worse. Maybe Finn dying, or Lexa..._

"You can let me go," Finn gasped. He had weight now, on her lap and on Wells's lap. There was shouting over near Murphy. "You said you knew Raven?"

"I trust her," Clarke told Finn.

There were whoops. "Traitor likes the Spacewalker!" Someone shouted. Clarke pushed him off and unbuckled herself. She'd met Bellamy by the drop ship doors. If this _wasn't_ a dream...

"Listen. No machine hum." Monty said quietly.

"Whoa," Jasper said. "That's a first." Wells was looking at Clarke like she was dying of the flue, and Finn was getting himself up impatiently. "Finn, check to see if everyone's okay. Wells, I'm okay." Clarke said and she jumped up.

"The outer door's on the lower level!" Someone shouted. People were moving towards the ladder down, but Clarke was the first one moving. Bellamy was already at the door, like he should be.

"Bellamy! Bellamy Blake!" Clarke shouted and the young man looked up.

"And you are?" He asked curiously.

"She's the traitor girl with the mom on the council!" Someone shouted.

"Bellamy!" Another girl shouted. _Oh, there's Octavia,_ Clarke thought to herself.

"It should be safe out there," Clarke told Bellamy. "If it's not, we're all dead."

"Yeah..." Bellamy muttered.

"Bellamy! Who is she?" Octavia asked, having scurried over to her brother.

"I have no idea," Bellamy laughed. "But you're getting to be the first one on the Ground in 100 years, not her."

"Sure," Clarke stood back and watched the door open. Maybe this wasn't a nightmare. She'd just get to feel like she was seeing the Ground for the first time, again. Maybe...

Everyone stood back as Octavia slowly walked down the ramp, then stopped and breathed in the air of Earth. Sunlight in Earth's sky, real trees, a real forest. It was so beautiful compared to the Ark. No wonder Mount Weather would kill them for it.

"We're back, bitches!" Octavia shouted. Clarke smiled as the wave of her people began to charge.

"We met again," Clarke told Wells as he climbed down next to her.

"Clarke, are you okay?" Wells asked. "You're acting..."

"Like it's been a year since I saw you?" Clarke asked, feeling hope rising in her chest. "Or maybe like I thought you were dead?"

"Yeah, but..."

"No. That's exactly how I am acting." Clarke smiled at Wells and hoped he would shut up.

Finn came down. "Everyone's alive. Glen was banged up. Maybe someone can check on him?"

"I can," Clarke said instantly. She'd been training to become a healer, no a _doctor_ , for a long time. A 'banged up' delinquent was nothing. It would give her time to think. No crossing the river to Mount Weather, obviously. She'd need to figure out how to get her people to listen about the acid fog. Maybe she could contact the Ark this time?

Clarke smiled as she climbed the ladder, a thought in her mind. She knew who was going to betray her, and she could stab all of _them_ in the back first.


	2. Chapter 2

"We got problems. The-" Clarke interrupted Wells.

"...communication system is dead." Clarke interrupted. "The heat fried the wires on entry, a dozen panels were lost because the drop ship is a hundred years old," Clarke answered finished for Wells.

"What actually happened?" Finn asked, glancing between Clarke and Wells.

"Exactly what she said." Wells frowned.

"Score one for Princess," Finn laughed and slapped Wells on the arm.

"It was a rough landing, and her father was chief environmental engineer." Wells looked at Finn worriedly. "She probably..."

"Finn. You've been taking care of Raven since she was a little girl. Her mother traded her ration credits. You were the one who kept her fed and looked out for her. Don't you think Raven would have mentioned me if we just happened to meet?" Clarke looked between Wells and Finn. "Please. If you don't listen to me a lot of people are going to die."

"So either you secretly befriended my girlfriend or you see the future? Sorry, Crazy, but your being psychic isn't flying here." Finn shook his head.

"Raven Reyes? Wasn't she the youngest mechanic in Ark history?" Wells asked. "I heard about her. She dated _you_ , Spacewalker?"

"Pretty much." Finn smiled. "Is there any way Clarke could have known her without us knowing?"

"It makes more sense than the girl in solitary having magical powers." Clarke looked up as Jasper walked in on the situation.

"She's-" Wells started advancing, pushing Jasper away. Clarke sighed.

"Hands off of him. He's with us." Clarke sighed more deeply as Murphy and a small band advanced on them. "So the traitor went nuts in solitary?" Murphy eyed her approvingly.

"No, Murphy. See for yourself." Clarke looked around and oriented herself. "See, over there is Mount Weather. We landed on the wrong mountain. Sometime tonight we are going to see glowing forests. If anyone tries to cross the river they are going to find water snakes the size of a horse. You are going to believe me when you see something I knew about and no one on the Ark could have seen."

"We're not on the wrong mountain, right?" Murphy snorted. "Anyone have an idea?"

"There's a map around here somewhere. Someone find it," Clarke insisted.

"She could've studied the map first," Bellamy suggested, walking over with Octavia to his side. "She probably knew about this before any of _us_ were told. Were you _really_ in solitary for a year, or were they teaching you how to survive down here?"

"That's crazy. No one knew we could survive here. How would they have known?" Wells asked angrily.

"Says _Chancellor_ Jaha's son!" Bellamy shouted. "You were probably in on it this whole time!"

"What, Little Princess. Thought you and your boyfriend could run the Ground just because your parents told you a few tricks?" Octavia asked, grinning with venom.

"Seriously, if the Council knew we were going to survive do you think they would have sent _us_?" Clarke asked. "They would have sent soldiers, farmers, the _privileged_ and not the criminals under the age of eighteen! Think, Bellamy! Would the guard captain have sent _you_ down instead of himself if he knew he could do this?" Clarke stared at Bellamy and he was silent.

"What, _Bellamy_?" Octavia asked. "You said you sneaked on board!"

"How else would I know you shot the Chancellor?" Clarke asked. Everyone was silent.

"Come on, Clarke. Just try to..." Wells was once again interrupted as Bellamy lifted Clarke by her shirt.

"Who told you!?" Bellamy shouted. Clarke felt herself slammed into the drop ship. Finn was on the move towards them.

"Raven!" Clarke gasped. Finn froze. Bellamy shook his head. "A few days from now she crashes a few miles away in an escape pod. It's why you want us to take off our bands, isn't it? It's not about control, it's about saving _his_ skin." She looked at Finn desperately. "If the Ark doesn't think they can live on the Ground we have less than two weeks before they start killing people to save oxygen. It's why they sent us down in the first place!"

Bellamy dropped her and staggered back as the nearby delinquents began shouting.

"Bellamy, what is she talking about?" Octavia took his arm. "Bell, talk to me. What's this crazy little bitch doing?"

"I was going to have everyone take off their bands," Bellamy whispered. "I didn't tell anyone. I didn't even decide until we opened the doors. Crazy knows things."

"And we're just supposed to believe _him_?" Murphy asked. "He's wearing a _guard's uniform_. You think he's not in on it?"

"This is getting ridiculous. You can't just go and say everyone is part of a conspiracy." Wells stepped forward.

"It's the Chancellor of Earth, everybody! They paid people off and sent down some of their own and lied to us so they could put him in charge! We are not going to take this anymore. Who's with me?" Murphy asked the confused looking crowd.

"Makes more sense than Princess being a witch." Finn shrugged thoughtfully.

"If you don't listen to me people are going to die in the Culling. 300 of your people, Bellamy! Workers, not the privileged. The Ground is not safe either. We aren't alone down here. There were survivors, Grounders. Everyone, look for tracks like a two-legged animal. It's human. Some of them have chemical weapons. The acid fog is going to come out sooner than later, and if we aren't prepared we start to die."

"Chemical weapons? Acid fog? Come on, you aren't buying this are you?" Murphy's voice was tinged with exasperation. "If there's any acid fog it's just something they're using to scare us. I bet they sent someone down early to prepare! Send up a bunch of details to make Crazy look magic and scare everyone into listening to her so when the Ark comes down we'll be nice and ready. Then they'll send down Spacewalker's girlfriend with supplies to make sure they get a safe landing so she can _keep_ looking like she's some kind of savior."

Clarke closed her eyes. _Murphy! Damn it, Murphy!_

"Leave Raven out of this!" Finn shouted. Clarke didn't have to look to know more shoving was going on. Octavia was laughing.

"So you just thought you could bribe my brother?" Octavia bounced to Clarke. "Bellamy's stronger than that, Crazy." _I preferred Princess_ , Clarke thought miserably. _Okay, Bellamy's not going to destroy the pod's radio, right? We can still stop the Culling when Raven arrives. We can probably save..._

"Tell me how you did it." Clarke looked up to see Bellamy. "Please just tell me the trick. I need to know. Were you in on it? Jaha floated your father. Did you and your mother plan this out?" Bellamy was almost pleading.

"Bell, come on. She's not _that_ good. She probably just guessed about the bands. What else were you going to do?" Octavia asked, and spat at Clarke's face. Clarke controlled the urge to stab the girl and wiped her face with her sleeve.

"Bellamy, _I_ know _you_ even if _you_ don't know _me_. You will never forgive yourself if you could save these people and _don't_. Help me setup camp, build a wall of spikes. If we don't cross the river they might not attack right away. We might be able to..." _They'll still want a war. Grounders need to see strength_. "...hold them off." Clarke finished.

"And how are we getting food?" Wells asked. "The supplies are on the mountain you don't want us to get to."

"There's animals in the forest. We can start hunting. I know where we can find guns, shelters. We need to avoid the Grounders, but we can do it. The forest is dangerous, but we've made it through before. "

"What _exactly_ do you think you know?" Bellamy asked. "Did you have crazy dreams in solitary or is a voice talking to you?"

"I'm not crazy!" Clarke started. "Just yesterday I'd been through _all_ of this. I just spent more than four _months_ on the ground. I remember sleeping in the woods last night better than I remember my bed back on the Ark. I don't know why this is happening anymore than you do, Bellamy. But I know that two of us died in the landing last time I was there, and this time we all made it down." Octavia snorted.

"So, _Crazy_. If you remember everything, how do we survive?" Octavia asked, leaning on Bellamy.

"We fight," Clarke answered.


	3. Chapter 3

"I'm not going to be locked up in Crazy's little camp just because _you_ say so. How's that any different from the Sky Box?" Octavia asked Bellamy. "Are you going to dig a hole for my to stay in next?"

"Why would..." Finn trailed off. "Wait, are you the girl they found under the floor?"

"Yes!" Octavia fired back and grinned. "It's time to do something _crazy_ now that we're here. We're on the Ground! We don't need to listen to them!" She pointed her thumb and Bellamy and Clarke.

"O, you don't think I'm actually _in_ on a conspiracy where they sent people ahead of us, do you? Think about just how crazy that is."

"It's pretty crazy," Finn pointed out. "I've seen the mechanics and the launch bays. There's no way they could hide that. Think about the Ark. Do you think they could hide people going up and down?"

"You can't say _everyone_ who thinks the conspiracy doesn't add up is in on it, Octavia." Clarke stared at the girl. "Can you really think that your brother would do that to you? That all the mechanics and engineers and scientists on the Ark would lie about having went to Earth? And for what, so Wells and Bellamy could be in charge of the people they put in lockup?"

"So we just do what you say? Because you're some kind of fairy tale witch?" Bellamy asked. "I believe you know way more you could even if Murphy was right about you being in on some kind of Ground conspiracy. You're still one of them. The privileged. And now you expect us to do whatever the hell you want?" Clarke smiled. "What's so funny?"

"Whatever the hell we want, just something you would have said. I need you, all of you. Finn, Octavia, Bellamy. You're people I trust, people who I relied on."

"And what about the Chancellor here?" Bellamy pointed to Wells.

"He died in the first week. Charlotte, a little girl, stabbed him in the neck because Bellamy told to to 'slay her demons' and she thought Wells was close enough." Clarke saw Wells wince and Bellamy's eyes grow wide.

"His dad float her parents or something?" Octavia asked, fire in her eyes.

"Yes. That's exactly why she did it." Clarke looked Octavia straight in the eyes. "Go ask her yourself."

"My dad, was he okay in this future of yours?" Wells asked. "You said Bellamy shot him?"

"He lived. Last I saw of him he was leading some people across the desert to find a City of Light. He didn't think we could stop the Grounders when they came to kill us."

"How did we stop them?" Finn asked. Clarke was silent for a moment.

"We gave them something they wanted. They have an enemy living in Mount Weather. They attack the Grounders, take them and use their blood as medicine to cure radiation sickness. The Grounders evolved ways to handle radiation, and it turns out our genetic engineering made us better at it than the Grounders. The people in Mount Weather never changed at all. Stepping in the unfiltered air can kill them. Some of the Grounders they take, inject with a kind of drug. The withdrawal killed anyone they tried to save from that. We were able to save one of them and help them fight the Mountain Men."

"We need to start checking out her story," Bellamy decided. "The more we can prove, the more likely it is we can get people to listen to you."

"And if she's just crazy we can go right back to ignoring the little princess," Octavia laughed.

"We had a map near the door. If anyone can find it I can point to where we are and where to go for things that matter. Guns, food, Grounder villages, water. Things that will help us survive. I know their language, too. Important plants that weren't covered in Earth Skills class. I can tell you about animals to look out for. Even if no one believes me they'll have to believe I know where things are as long as I am right." Clarke looked at the group. "Also it should rain in a few hours, just after nightfall. Wells, start work on collecting the water. Everyone else, find me that map and we can begin."

* * *

Clarke looked out at the small crowd who had gathered to gawk. "Done yet, Crazy?" Octavia asked, tapping her foot with impatience.

"Here is a bunker Finn discovered near the camp, we should send a group to raid it. This is where we found an emergency aid depot with supplies we need. Weapons. If I'm right, that should be where Raven lands on our twelfth day on the Ground. And no I am _not_ done. I want to see if I can figure out a safe path free of Grounders, Reapers, the acid fog, and anything else that could kill us. I think one group should head to the aid depot first. We only have one gun, and the sooner that changes the better."

"Well aren't you the Chancellor now," Octavia sulked. "What do you think we do once we find a bunch of trees and rocks where you think these things are?"

"If that happens I guess I _am_ Crazy. I'll start listening to other people and trying to figure out what's wrong with me. Until then can you at least pretend this is real?" Clarke frowned at the map.

"So what are you trying to figure out, Princess?" Finn asked, peering over Clarke's shoulder.

"If I'm right we're close to Trikru territory, one of the twelve clans of the Grounder coalition. They have a small force near here to keep on eye on Mount Weather and send a warning when the Reapers go on the move. Right to our south is an exit point for the Reapers to pour out of the caves and mines Mount Weather uses. The river shifted from the map, moving to the west of here and marking the closet point to Mountain the patrols go. Fortunately the guns are in the other direction from the Reapers and the Grounders, but I'm trying to figure out a path from safe point to safe point in case Mount Weather has a way to use the acid fog on us after they realize what we're doing."

"Who are these Mount Weather guys?" Jasper asked from next to Octavia.

"Survivors. We survived in space, they survived underground. They're just like us, and will do anything to survive. We execute anyone who commits a crime to conserve air, they capture the Grounders to use their blood as medicine. If they find out about us they'll want our blood, and then our bone marrow."

"Why not give it to them? We can donate bone marrow." Monty asked, coming up next to Jasper.

"There's more than 300 people in the Mountain. Even with all hundred of us they might get too greedy. They've taken what they need for generations. Last time they almost killed all of our survivors and gassed this camp. The reason the landing was so rough is that they're jamming already, and they crashed the next ship in _my_ future. The Mountain Men will act like we are at war as soon as they find us and we need to be one step ahead."

"Got it. Secret mountain people want our blood. That makes sense." Jasper took Monty by the arm. "Let's get out of here."

"Just stay near the drop ship!" Clarke shouted. All around here people were running around, soaking in the Ground and all the beauty they had missed out on in the Ark. How long had it taken them to organize, get disciplined? Clarke couldn't remember for sure. Bellamy's militia had seemed like a pack of wolves at the time, but she'd been on the outside and worrying about survival. Clarke wished she had Raven, _her_ Finn, _her_ Bellamy. Someone else who could remember what she could.

"Here she is." Clarke looked up to see Finn and Bellamy pulling a little girl.

"Let me go!" She shrieked, kicking wildly.

"This the girl you said was a murderer?" Bellamy asked.

"Would be," Clarke corrected. "Yes, that's Charlotte."

"No I'm not!" She shrieked. Everyone was silent for a moment.

"Are you _sure_ , Princess?" Finn asked. The little girl continued to kick.

"Positive." Clarke could never forget this one. "She stabbed Wells in the neck and jumped off a cliff once the lynch mob started. We need her watched, or tied up."

"I'm not Charlotte!" The little girl screamed again.

"So you're rounding people up on Crazy's say-so?" Murphy and several others were talking towards them again. "You gonna float her on blondie's word, too?"

"No one's floating anyone!" Clarke stood up.

"And she shouts. What a surprise." Murphy grinned lazily. "What next, are you going to call me a murderer too? Talk about my 'future crimes' and say no one should listen to me?" Clarke gritted her teeth.

"Want to know what happened to you? You were leading the group that wanted the little girl _dead_. Then you left the camp when she killed herself. The Grounders found you and tortured you for _days_. You told them everything about us. When you were dumped back at camp you were carrying a Grounder disease that killed several people and weakened us all. Is that the future you want, because if so just go cross the river. Will you still think it's some kind of conspiracy when they're ripping out your fingernails?"

There was murmuring in Murphy's group. He stepped forward.

"She says she's not even the girl you think she is? How do we know you didn't eat some weird plant you were so sure was safe? Go from crazy to hallucinating right there." Murphy stepped towards Clarke again.

"Or maybe she's lying." Bellamy suggested. "Anyone know this girl?" As he looked around she managed to escape and dart into the crowd. Octavia set off in pursuit.

"And now the piece of evidence Princess here was so keen on got away just when she needed it. How convenient." Murphy stepped forward again. "Are you two really going to go hunting for a little girl again because she's the bad guy in this made up future?"

"Shut up Murphy." Clarke snapped.

"If she's right in a few hours we'll have guns. I'll hand them out myself. Do you think we'd do that if we were working for people on the Ark? We'll be training, preparing! If we come back empty handed we'll know to stop listening to her." Bellamy stepped forward. "Until then you leave her alone."

"Oh, so just because her actor is going to hand out guns to the people _he_ trusts you think we'll listen to you? I bet the people you put in the woods dressed like monsters to scare us will run right to their camp in Mount Weather after you bring in guns." Murphy gestured to his followers. "They want it to be just like it was on the Ark, the privileged getting the best and all of us too scared to fight them."

"Murphy, you're one of my people. All of these are my people. The Chancellor floated my mother, put my sister in a cell. They made me a janitor to clean up after them. I want them to pay, but if Clarke's right we have a very big problem. Until I'm sure she's lying..."

"Of course you two will keep giving excuses. It won't ever stop! There will always be a reason to listen to you instead of doing what we want. This is paradise, people! We don't need to be slaves anymore." Murphy walked away.

"So?" Clarke asked, smiling viciously. "Who here wants to help me carry back guns?" Screw finding a safe path. If she didn't prove herself right soon Murphy might get them all killed.


	4. Chapter 4

"Atom! Stay." Clarke ordered, feeling exhausted. "You can't go running off into these woods like that."

"Chill, Princess," Finn said. "You said the Grounders won't be on this side of the river right now. Let him enjoy it a bit."

"The Grounders _probably_ won't be on this side of the river," Clarke corrected. "And there are jaguars, giant snakes, gorillas with fangs, and who knows what else that could kill you if you run over something."

"Did you have a stick this high up your butt before solitary?" Monroe asked. Clarke closed her eyes for a second. She'd almost forgotten what the delinquents had been like at first. If only she had Monty and Jasper on this mission, but Bellamy and Finn had found Miller, Monroe, and Atom as willing volunteers. Jasper had decided that he did not want to follow a crazy girl into strange woods, and Monty had agreed with him. This might actually be a good sign of their character.

"Probably," Bellamy nodded his head at Monroe.

"Isn't that how girls don't get pregnant?" Atom asked, leading to a wave of silence.

"What the hell?" Monroe asked.

"You know. Put copper in deep and it kills sperm?" Everyone was silent for a moment.

"Did you ever have an anatomy class?" Clarke asked. "Like, at all? For one thing, it's not a stick. For another, it's not really..."

"You do know how we work down there, right?" Monroe asked cautiously. "Like..."

"That's totally not what the expression means," Clarke laughed.

"Wait, I'm confused." Atom looked at them. "What does it mean?"

"Shut up." Bellamy said. "Please!" Everyone was silent for a while as they hiked on.

"They're really going to do a culling?" Monroe asked quietly. "How did it get that bad?"

"The Ark is 97 years old and the stations are older. It just got old." Clarke answered.

"Why are you listening to Crazy?" Miller asked.

"My dad worked with her mom before he floated himself. I didn't know Clarke. but I think this doesn't add up." She sighed. "If the Ground is okay, why can't Princess be from the future?"

"I'm just hoping for guns," Miller laughed. "If they come down and try to screw with us again I want them."

"That's discouraging," Clarke told him. "And we're almost there."

"Good," Bellamy said. "Maybe we can shut up about if Crazy's nuts or psychic when we see the guns."

* * *

"Packed in grease," Miller whispered. "Just like you said."

"Some of the ammunition is good, and some of it isn't. We might be able to start on new bullets back at the drop ship, but I'm not sure how much we can handle without Raven."

"What do we need all the guns for? Do you want to charge Mount Weather?" Finn asked sarcastically.

"I'm more worried about the Grounders for now. Mountain Men stay in their mountain until they see weakness. Grounders assume you're weak until you prove you're strong. They'll start killing us again if we aren't prepared."

"So we're all agreed Crazy here isn't completely crazy," Bellamy interjected himself. "We can bring back guns and start work on food and everything else now."

"What happened to me?" Atom asked. "In your future that is."

"You got hit by the acid fog, one of the first." Clarke answered simply. "As far as I know Bellamy, Miller, and Monroe were alive when I came back. Finn died because of the Grounders, too."

"And Octavia?" Bellamy asked.

"She was alive. Raven too, Finn. Without Raven we wouldn't have survived. She came down to help us, and too prove to the Ark we were still alive."

* * *

Murphy sulked at the edge of camp. Crazy and the Chancellor were surrounded by a throng of sheep. Murphy admitted to himself that the Princess might be from the future now. It was still probably a trick.

"You're not celebrating." Octavia sat down next to Murphy.

"Oh, everything's finished because we have guns to keep the monsters away. All we need to do is exactly what they say." Murphy mocked.

"So you don't trust them either?" Octavia asked.

"What?" Murphy asked.

"You aren't scared of the big bad _Grounders_ are you? I thought you said they were just some people they had dressed up to look scary? Isn't that going to prove it?" Octavia grinned at Murphy.

"If they're from the Ark to scare us they'd probably kill us," Murphy muttered. "Not like Council was known for mercy."

"So you're scared." Octavia laughed. "Too scared to prove your point. If you _really_ hate the privileged then you'd go and prove them wrong. Or maybe they're right. The Grounders aren't the ones who locked me in a box for most of my life. Maybe they'll listen to us better than Bellamy or Crazy."

"You really think so?" Murphy wondered how he could get out of this.

"Do you _want_ to be crammed into the drop ship listening to their orders for the rest of your life?" Octavia leaned in. "Or we could do something _crazy_." Octavia raised her wrist, free of her monitor. "I'm going. If you want to stay behind feel free."

"I'm going," Murphy sighed. "We just need to get to the river, right? That has to be close."

* * *

Bellamy sat, thinking.

"Why don't they kill me?" He asked Clarke. "You say they come down, right? I shot the Chancellor. What changed?"

"You proved yourself," Clarke explained. She examined the make-shift fence several kids had started while they had been gone. "They needed the 100, and the the 100 needed you. I was stuck in Mount Weather early on, and you were the only other leader we had. They can change, Bellamy. They tried to be better down here than they were up there."

"Did we do any better?" Bellamy asked. "Down here, were we better?" He looked at Clarke.

"We survived. We did what we had to do. Surviving on the Ground is different than life on the Ark." Clarke answered.

"So that's a no," Bellamy answered.

"We all did things we could never have imagined. The Ark was its own world. Meeting the Grounders and Mount Weather, it meant there were people who could live without us. On the Ark we needed everyone to work together. Down here it's just _different_. Everyone just does what they have to do."

"And what did _you_ 'have to do' Crazy?" Bellamy asked.

"I won." Clarke answered.

The shouting started nearby. Clarke looked around the campfire for an attack. People were pointing at the sky.

"Are they coming down?" She heard Monty ask. Clarke looked up.

"You know if you had predicted the meteor shower that would have helped make your case, Princess." Finn said, coming out of the shadows.

"That's not a meteor shower," Clarke answered. "Something went wrong. Something's different this time." _Could I have done something to cause this? Something on the drop ship, send some kind of signal_?

"Clarke, what are you talking about?" Bellamy rushed over. People were oohing and ahing.

"That's a funeral. It shouldn't have happened for days, but it did. They started the culling early."

"What?" Bellamy looked at her. " _Why_?"

"I don't know," Clarke whispered. "I can't imagine why they would be doing this now when they didn't do it before. Something must have happened up there. Maybe I wasn't the only thing that came back? Maybe it's not deterministic, and some accident happened this time that didn't before. I don't know." Clarke shuddered.

"I don't get it. You said if we kept on the bands they would know we're alive!" Bellamy shouted.

"You promised us we could save them!" Someone in the crowd nearby shouted.

"Crazy lied to us!" Someone else shouted.

"I'm sorry! I don't know what happened!" Clarke tried to think. "Maybe the Chancellor died this time, and Kane went through with the culling early? That would mean a smaller culling, if they did it earlier. But it won't be enough. We have to send a signal..." Clarke frowned. Somehow the signal flares had burned down a village last time, gave the Grounders yet another reason to attack.

"They already know we're down here. They just don't _care_ ," Bellamy answered.


End file.
